AAD: American Academy of Dermatology

With immunosuppression, self-regulatory mechanisms may start to decrease, and these are the patients who develop skin cancers more frequently, said Rajiv Nijhawan, MD, UT Southwestern Medical Center.

Posters presented at the American Academy of Dermatology Virtual Meeting Experience show ruxolitinib cream was effective at treating atopic dermatitis (AD) regardless of previous treatments and in patients with more severe disease.

Topical application of ruxolitinib cream significantly, and rapidly, decreases pruritus, noted Andy Blauvelt, MD, MBA, dermatologist and clinical study investigator at Oregon Medical Research Center, a dedicated clinical trial site.

Until now, treatments for atopic dermatitis have had safety concerns, but a new understanding of the disease has led to novel and exciting agents being developed, according to Emma Guttman, MD, PhD, of Mount Sinai.

Posters presented at the American Academy of Dermatology Virtual Meeting Experience highlighted that ruxolitinib cream is effective in patients with more severe atopic dermatitis, and even showed clinically relevant improvements in patients who only had a partial response.

Patients with atopic dermatitis (AD) who received ruxolitinib cream experienced a rapid, clinically meaningful, and sustained improvement in their itch.

For cases of advanced skin cancer that are not candidates for surgery or radiation therapy, we have Hedgehog pathway inhibitors and PD-1 inhibitors, each of which has 2 approved medications, noted Todd Schlesinger, MD, FAAD.

Washout periods are necessary to flush out any lingering effects of drugs that patients are taking before a study, explained Jonathan Silverberg, MD, PhD, MPH, associate professor of dermatology, George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences.

Rajiv Nijhawan, MD, is associate professor of dermatology and Mohs surgeon at UT Southwestern (UTSW) Medical Center and director of the UTSW High Risk Skin Cancer Transplant Clinic, both in Dallas, Texas.

Christine Ko, MD, is professor of dermatology and pathology at Yale University and a presenter of “What's New in Dermatopathology” at this year’s American Academy of Dermatology Virtual Meeting Experience (AAD VMX).

The upcoming 2021 virtual meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) will offer more than 75 sessions. Some of the topics to keep an eye out for include treating minority populations, the impact of COVID-19, and patients with cancer.

A changing climate affects every organ system of the body, individual patients, and population-based health, noted Misha Rosenbach, MD, associate professor of dermatology and internal medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

Atopic dermatitis has a tremendous affect on quality of life, so it’s nice to have more options to treat patients in a different way, noted Lawrence F. Eichenfield, MD, chief of pediatric and adolescent dermatology at Rady Children's Hospital-San Diego.

Jonathan Silverberg, MD, PhD, MPH, is an author of the poster, “Efficacy of Ruxolitinib Cream Among Patients With Atopic Dermatitis Based on Previous Medication History: Pooled Results From Two Phase 3 Studies,” which will be presented at this year’s American Academy of Dermatology Virtual Meeting Experience (AAD VMX).